(scarf i crocheted in 2009 i know it's not knitting but...it's yarn!)
In 2005 (ish) I decided that i just HAD to learn to knit.
I had an online friend who did some amazing knitting and she sent me needles and yarn to get started with! Cuz seriously? Where was i going to find THAT in Trinidad?! Maybe now a little more as people are opening little shops but just a few years ago - really hard to find.
So i took that baby pink yarn and those white plastic needles and I played around.
I watched knitting videos I tried, tried, tried and it just wasn't happening!
It took a week for me to get past casting on and to knit a row.
It was the wonkiest, ugliest, saddest little row ever. I was frustrated but not discouraged. My friend told me to keep trying and there was no way I was giving up - i wanted to make fun things to wear on trips! Back then I had no idea that i'd meet a boy, fall crazy in love, get married and end up living where i'd actually need knitted items!
I played around until i finally knit a scarf - all in garter stitch and i'll bet money a five year old could knit a neater scarf.
I was soooo proud of that thing i actually wore it.
It was made of baby pink acrylic yarn and it wasn't the most comfortable thing or the prettiest but boy did i love love LOVE that thing. I think my cousin might still have it.
At this point though, i almost gave up on stockinette and i'm still the worst purler today. I gave up on the idea of making sweaters and hats. Scarves would be it. Not fancy scarves either. No sir! Garter stitch scarves all that way.
I begged my friend Mikey to help me find a yarn store when I visited NYC later that year.
I think we walked to kuwait and back that place was so far away from where we thought it was.
It was a WHOLE NEW WORLD in that place.
People were throwing around strange words like 'hanks and skeins' and wielding strange knitting needles connected by strings! The store was also SO packed it made me nervous.
A hurried employee asked me what i needed so he could quickly point me to where I needed to be and i sort of ran off on him and got lost in the crowd. I had NO clue what I wanted in this strange yarn universe.
I ended up choosing two skeins of this awful stuff because it was cheap and i didn't want to leave empty handed.
The guy at the register helped me pick out the right size needles and told me i should come to the knitting classes. He was especially interested in my friend Mikey and having HIM come to the classes also. This was the second guy that night who hit on him. It was pretty funny. I think i bought him some beer after that to make up for getting him hit on.
The guy also told me i was welcome to use their ball winder to wind my skeins and I had no clue what a ball winder was. A nearby lady seeing the look of panic on my face, directed me to the winder and showed me how to use it. Mikey and i quickly wound the two skeins and hightailed it outta there.
I was happy to have yarn but confused as ever and really wanting to stop this knitting business altogether. Only it just feels so good when you have yarn moving through your fingers onto the needles and coming out as fabric!
part 1 of.......?
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